Of course it sounds odd, which is why people who hear it think that it must be true. After all, there are actually visible same sex couples walking around in a Midwestern city! Good God, the place must be crawling with them!

Never mind, of course, that the idea of conducting an accurate study to determine the percentage of GLBTs in a given city is damn near impossible... never mind those in the closet or denial, how would you answer a random phone survey asking about your sexual preference?

Iowa City does indeed have a decently large and visible GLBT population, just like any number of other liberal college towns. It's honestly barely worth commenting on unless you're not used to that kind of thing, which is often the case with many students from rural areas who go to state schools. But this whole "We're #2!" obsession is just plain queer.